'Smile' Movie's Unusual Marketing Move Goes Viral and Netizens Are Terrified
A viral marketing move for the "Smile" movie terrifies netizens enough to catch their interest.
The psychological horror film, "Smile" was written and directed by Parker Finn as his feature directorial debut. The film is based on Finn's short film "Laura Hasn't Slept" from 2020. The horror film stars Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, and Rob Morgan.
The Terrifying Marketing Strategy
Recently, photos of the audience during multiple Major League Baseball games went viral as netizens noticed something unusual in the background. As a marketing tactic of the horror film, smiling, unmoving people looking directly at the cameras were planted in the audience. Additionally, one of the planted "smilers" was also present during an episode of "The Today Show".
However, as a hint to the marketing stunt, the people wore a shirt with the word "Smile" during their strange appearances. At least three of the smiling people were spotted on screen during live broadcasts of baseball games last September 23. CBR reports these details that were caught on camera:
"The first was a grinning person wearing a yellow shirt with the word 'Smile' emblazoned across it, who was caught on camera during an Oakland Coliseum game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Mets." CBR described the unusual scene. "The second was a person dressed in blue who stared eerily into space during a Yankee Stadium game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The third was a person wearing a 'Smile' shirt at the Dodger Stadium's Los Angeles Dodgers versus St. Louis Cardinals game."
UPDATE: We also have smilers at the Dodgers/Cardinals game, and a smiler was spotted photo-bombing the Today Show! Keep 👀 open all weekend - they’re everywhere!#SmileMovie pic.twitter.com/WMhzHQ0uND
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) September 24, 2022
Additionally, Twitter also added a feature wherein tweets with the hashtag #smilemovie generate a unique smiling emoji right next to it.
NEVER stop doing these for (horror) movies, twitter #smilemovie pic.twitter.com/wn0DeXGT2i
— kyler ☏ (@slshers) September 29, 2022
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Fans Are Terrified But Interested
The unusual marketing strategy has definitely caught the attention of netizens. While terrified, many netizens praise the idea amidst the hype for the upcoming film.
The ‘Smile’ movie is doing promo by having people sit at baseball games doing creepy faces and it’s honestly fucking genius marketing pic.twitter.com/zsyVH077Q1
— MARS (@DrugsnTitties) September 24, 2022
"Smile" follows a therapist who witnesses a traumatic event involving one of their patients, ensuing a series of bizarre encounters throughout the film. The film first premiered at the Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2022, and will be released nationwide on September 30, 2022.
